Council of Governors
The Council of Governors (CoG) is the group of current state governors, working along side the Junior Statesmen Foundation to work on JSA at the national level. The council has its own cabinet, as well as self-elected positions. Current Governors on the Council List of Governors (2019-2020) Tori Cord: Arizona State Olivia Fox: Mid-Atlantic State Litsa Kapsalis: Midwest State Bryan Green: Northern California Kavya Desikan: Northeast Melinda Xia: Ohio River Valley Avinash Naidu: Pacific North West Judy Zhang: Southern California Brian Carlos: Southeast Lucy Ding: Texas Previous Governors List of Governors (2018-2019) Joshua Garay: Arizona State Neha Nandiwada: Mid-Atlantic State Max Zhang: Midwest State Oliver Soglin: Northern California Jenny Wang: Northeast Gene Kim: Ohio River Valley Mia Barkeneas: Pacific North West Kaitlin Zhou: Southern California Matthew Jenkins: Southeast Dominic Beck: Texas List of Governors (2017-2018) Yesenia Montes: Arizona State Ariel Rakovitsky: Mid-Atlantic State Colin Jensen: Midwest State Kate Gross-Whitaker: Northern California Derek Lo: Northeast Jeff Goldblum: Ohio River Valley Nicholas Liang: Pacific North West Patrick Aimone: Southern California Thurman Massa: Southeast Ben Scarborough: Texas List of Governors (2016-2017) Ciana Cronin: Arizona State Rohan Marwaha: Mid-Atlantic State Janani Kalyan: Midwest Kiran Prasad: Northern California Kamran Parsa: Northeast Nari Johnson: Ohio River Valley Divya Seth: Pacific Northwest Justin Wittekind: Southern California Michael Castro: Southeast Ajay Singh: Texas List of Governors (2015-2016) Jennifer Guzman: Arizona Territory Roberto Ruiz: Mid-Atlantic State Shruti Baxi: Midwest State Denny Baek: Northern California Jenna Wong: Northeast Charles Zhang: Ohio River Valley Kyle Walton: Pacific North West Chris Alba: Southern California Stephanie Brito: South East Cole Harper: Texas List of Governors (2014-2015) List of Governors (2013-2014) List of Governors (2012-2013) Summer Wu : Midwest State Jeff Gordon (Secretary): Ohio River Valley State (ORV) Tony Rogari (Chairman): Southern California (SoCal) Arnela Colic : Northern California (NorCal) Iman Baghai: Pacific Northwest (PNW) Caleb Rhodes : Arizona Territory Kathryn Edmunds : Southeast State Jacob Meisel (Student Board Trustee): Northeast State Simone Klein : Mid-Atlantic State Griffin Rubin (Treasurer): Texas State Self-elected Positions The CoG has positions inside of it that are held by governors, elected by their peers. These jobs are a Chairperson of the CoG, a secretary, and a student board trustee. Chair Person of the Council The chairperson of CoG is responsibly for organizing meetings and leading CoG events. As they are the leader of the council of governors, they do not act as a president of the nation. The Chief of Staff for national cabinet reports directly to the chairperson of CoG, who then updates the other governors, and if need be, JSF. The current Chairperson is Max Zhang. Secretary The secretary of the CoG is responsible for taking notes at all CoG meetings. They also must keep all records and papers for reference. The current secretary is Gene Kim. Student Board Trustee The student board trustee serves on the board of the Junior Statesmen Foundation. They are the voice responsible for representing how the students feel about issues, and sometimes the voting board members will simply side with whatever the student representative thinks. The current trustee is Katelin Zhou. National Spokesperson National Cabinet Positions In recent years, the CoG has become a more unifying group, working on promoting unified projects across the nation. This has made a need for national directors in certain areas. Chief of Staff Because each governor on the Council has its own state to lead, organizing the cabinet is a job if its own. The Chief of Staff receives updates from each director and reports to the chairperson of the Council appropriately. The current National Chief of Staff is Serena Upadhyay of the Midwest State. Director of Debate The National Director of Debate creates a list of debates for every single state to use at their events, creating a unifying quality to each event. The Director of Debate also comes up with the Debate of the Month, for chapters nationwide to debate. The current National Director of Debate is Jacob Kuppermann of Southern California. Director of Activism The National Director of Activism works with each state director to create a national plan on how to increase activism. They report back to the Chief of Staff. The current National Directors of Activism are Hannah Edwards of the Ohio River Valley State, and Rachna Mandalam of Northern California. Director of Public Relations The National Director of Public Relations works with all of the state level Public Relations and Communications directors and agents, mostly in regards to website updates, event press releases, but also helping people who would like to, write for the Huffington Post. They also write, collect, and disseminate newsworthy articles and press releases to promote JSA and manage all social media outlets. The current National Director of Communications is Brynne McKee of the Pacific Northwest. Director of Technology The National Director of Technology is responsible for handling mobile and web technology for JSA nationwide. They oversee the management of state websites, create videos and graphics, and work with state directors to utilize resources as best they can. The current National Director of Technology is Sam Abdullah of the Midwest. Director of Territories While there are chapters in states across the nation, there are also eight (and growing) chapters in US territories. The National Director of Territories is a liaison between these chapters and the organization as a whole, representing their interests, helping them grow, and participate in conference and engaging meetings. Their job is also to help new chapters grow in territories, as well as states without any, assimilating them into JSA. The current National Director of Territories is Samantha Jaeger of the Mid-Atlantic. Director of Summer School The National Director of Summer School works with Elected Officials and state directors nationwide to promote JSA Summer School throughout the year. They create brochures, workshops, webinars, and more to encourage students to sign up for Summer School, and help them along the way. The current National Director of Summer School is Peter Rooch of the Midwest.